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It's Psychedelic Baby Magazine

It's Psychedelic Baby is an independent, music magazine. We are covering alternative, underground, non-commercial and non-mainstream artists in variety of shapes and genres. Exclusive interviews, reviews and articles. A place where musicians can express themselves. We serve an international readership.

For my way of thinking, there are only
three records that are about cities, the life in those cities, the culture, the
times, the excesses, the joy, the sorrow, and the dark mysterious edges ... the
first being the early work by The Velvet
Underground, the second was L.A. Woman, by The Doors, and the third is this
brilliant outing regarding the city of San Francisco, and hometown of Chuck
Prophet.

Temple
Beautiful opens with, or rather busts on the scene
with “Play That Song Again,” an AM Radio killer hit, if there still was such a
thing, delivering a perfect mixture of hooks and attitude, sending Chuck’s
telecaster front and center, where he takes it all to the wall in a no nonsense
bare knuckles style that’ll have your hand reaching out to turn up the volume
before you’re even aware of it.
Prophet’s lyrics dance between Kerouac’s “On The Road,” and a flashy
Dylanesque banter, filled with free association, bigger than life epic
characters, lofty aspirations, discovery, and enough homages to spin your head around. But he doesn’t stop there, he graciously
channels Ray Davies al-la Muswell
Hillbillies, and Jonathan Richmond, effortlessly stripping it all down
without sounding frozen or clichéd ... and I haven’t even gotten to the John
Lennon “How Do You Sleep” chord changes on “Emperor Norton.”

Just wrap your ears around “Who Shot John,”
an unexpected updated remake of “Hey Joe,” a song that's filled with sundown
shadows, drifting lyrics, haunting melodies, and drenched with shimmering
guitars. Others have waved off Temple Beautiful, claiming that it
runs out of gas at the end, but they don’t get it, Chuck’s not running out of
gas, he’s winding down, stepping back even further into his rich musical
history, serving up “Little Girl, Little Boy” with 1950’s flavors, and
featuring his wife Stephanie Finch on backing vocals, delivering codeine cough
syrup laced harmonies that are full, rich, and subtle all at the same time ...
like dollar bills caught on a breeze, blowing down the street, completely
unexpected, beautiful, and highly prized.

The band Secret Saucer was formed in 2001, during a weekend
jam session in the studio in Ohio. The subject of the jam was pretty simple:
play space rock. And they did it! During that jam session, musicians recorded a
couple of songs that have been released on EP, and later included in their
debut album “Element 115” released by Dead Earnest record label in 2005.

Their second album entitled “Second Sighting” was released
in 2007, with the same line-up.

Band consists of musicians who were (or are) involved in
touring and playing with Hawkwind`s founder Nik Turner, Australian poet and
psychedelic rock musician Daevid Allen, Quarkspace, Architectural Metaphor,
Church Of Hed, Sun Machine, National Steam, and more.

Musical experience and creative feeling for space
atmosphere, got the band to their fourth album – “Four on the floor”, released
in 2011.

With some lineup changes for this album, band consisting of
- Steve Hayes (synthesizers), Dave Hess (synthesizers, glissando guitar), Billy
Spear (bass), Dan Schnell (guitar, synthesizers), Ted Boburka (drums,
synthesizers) and Greg Kozlowski (guitar, synthesizers), managed to record
their most advanced and progressive album so far.

It opens with a short introduction and entering-into-space
“Time spent out of mind”, with some parts of it reminding of the video games
from the 80s. Actually it is a great psychedelic instrumental. Progressive
“Lunar Pull” represents the core of space rock tunes, taking the listener deep
into space. Great track! Instrumental “Daedal” really stands for its name. It
is ingenious and complex tune that sounds more like a part of late night jam
session, than like a previously rehearsed song, that gives a dose of immediacy
to the album. However, it is really huge and shows the musical width of the band.

Song “Awaken” has only one problem – it wasn`t released back
in 70s or 80s, the eras when progressive rock was on the top, because it would
definitely stand shoulder to shoulder with anthems like “Hey You”, “In the
Court of the Crimson King” or any Genesis tune.

Keyboard based “The dark rift” sounds like a two-minute
introduction into “Celestial Spigot” - a six minute progressive, fusion and
psychedelic jam in great space environment, framed into the great sound
production.

Nine minutes and a half of “Four on the Floor” is a long
journey, taking the listener deep into the wide open space. “Aegean Bridge” is
a mid-temp instrumental, painted with great keyboard parts.

Melancholic “Notch” is practically the ending intro for “A
Saucerful of Secrets”, nice cover of Pink Floyd`s tune from the album of the
same name, released back in 1968.

Comparing to their second album “Second Sight”, or even to
the first one “Element 115”, it is obvious that production and spread
creativity are first to notice. It is useless making any parallels between this
band and Hawkwind, Pink Floyd or Quarkspace, because Secret Saucer is the gang
playing advanced space rock of 21st century, using their methods and creating
their sound. If you are a fan of instrumental music, supported with great space
rock atmosphere and progressive, psychedelic tunes, you will definitely find
this album as the one you would enjoy listening to.

Ohio-based trio “Buffalo Killers” – guitarist and vocalist
Andrew Gabbard, bassist and vocalist Zachary Gabbard and drummer Joseph
Sebaali, are maybe not the band from MTV or some mainstream music magazine, but
they definitely are proving that despite hard times for good music, with bands
like them – rock n roll is here to stay!

When they released their first self-titled album in 2006,
previously sending it to the record label “Alive Naturalsound” on the burnt CD
with just their telephone number and name on it, Buffalo Killers probably never
dreamed of how things will start to develop for them. Their second album “Let
it ride” was produced by Dan Auerbach of The Black Keys, and gained huge
success in USA. Three years after it, they recorded a new one, simply called
“3” and proved that they are rising band with huge talent and ability to become
one of the best rock `n roll bands today. After huge success with third album,
and hits like “Huma bird”, “Circle Day” and “Mountain Sally”, they never
thought about taking a rest. Last year, with their new album “Dig. Sow. Love.
Grow.” they just confirmed their creativity and justified the trust of
constantly growing fan base, hungry for good old rock `n roll music.

Some magazines compared their music with Blue Cheer,
Mountain and Rolling Stones, but they definitely proved with their last album,
that they sound just like they need to – like Buffalo Killers, band of passion,
true love for music and great energy. They toured with Black Crowes,
collaborated with Dan Auerbach from The Black Keys, smoked a joint with Blue
Cheer, and rocked many states and cities in US.

Guitarist and singer Andy Gabbard found a time to answer a
couple of Andrija Babovic`s questions for “It`s Psychedelic Baby”, about their
music, rock n roll scene today, Neil Young, plans for 2013, drugs and other
stuff never or rarely spoken before.

First of all thank you for your time. To start, tell me your
opinion regarding rock n roll today?
What modern rock n roll scene represents these days, and where do you
see your band on it?

Rock and roll is here to stay. Though, it has changed.
Nowadays I feel like rock is measured more on how you are dressed, ya know? All
these popular groups look good, but sound like garbage. Certain magazines will
tell you someone's album sounds like Pet Sounds, you'll look at their photo,
they look like The Beatles, then when you go and listen they sound like a
shitty U2 reincarnation. There are very few true rock groups out there today
and we hope to be one of them.

Tell me something about the time you spent creating your
last album "Dig. Sow. Love. Grow." which was released in August 2012?
Tell me a little about inspiration, and how long have you been writing it?

My brother Zach
and I write songs like madmen. So once we had a good handful together we just
went into the studio and knocked them out. We tried not to over-think things on
this record and we are very happy with the results. Nice rockin' LP.

You are probably a lot more experienced as artists and
musicians now, as this is your 4th album. Do you think that you have raised the
creativity bar?

At this point, we
are just getting this thing licked. We are like a well-oiled machine in the
studio anymore. We support the song. No predetermined directions for anything.
We like to keep it simple and let the song bring the magic.

Do you think that your music now became more psychedelic and
progressive comparing to your first three albums?

Not necessarily. More than anything, I feel as though we are
becoming more and more ourselves. Which is hard being such super fans of music.

It is not a secret, that most of the rock `n roll was
created and inspired by using drugs. Back in the sixties and seventies, rock musicians
spoke openly about drug using in their interviews. Why do you think that in
modern age it is not so? Have music magazines become more conservative, or
musicians became afraid of the reactions of society?

I have no idea. I got high just to do this interview.
Believe it or not, a lot of people are snobs about that kind of stuff. I mean,
just bring up Grateful Dead to a random person and see their reaction. Some
people won't even listen to the dead because of their impression of the dead's
fan base. It's sad. Nobody wants to get passed on just because they like to
smoke grass or something. And some people don't want their grandma to know that
they get high. I personally don't give a shit. I'm real. Buffalo Killers are
real.

Jack Daniel`s or Maker`s Mark?

Jack. My brother would probably say Maker's. I hate Maker's.

It has been seven years since your first album; you toured a
lot and met many of rock stars. Have you met some of your childhood idols?

Yes! The craziest being Blue Cheer. Never thought I'd ever
be in a room with Dickie Peterson, smoking a joint, listening to him tell
stories about playing with Jimi Hendrix. Still can't believe that happened.

I won`t ask you about your favorite Buffalo Killers album so
far, but I cannot pass without asking about your favorite song? There must be
at least one, written from the deepest bottom of your soul that is special for
you? Do you often play it live?

Mountain Sally is one my favorite songs I've ever written.
Very proud of that song. We play it all the time. Favorite songs change all the
time for me. Depends on how often we play it I guess.

Neil Young`s “Homegrown” became standard in your setlist.
What does that song represent to you? Why of all Neil Young`s songs you chose
this one to play on practically every show?

We bust out Neil songs at rehearsal all the time. We are
huge fans of his. That song just fits into our set well. We didn't intend on
playing it so much. But after our first shows, people started requesting it. We
won't play it usually unless someone asks.

Two albums in two years, should the fans expect something
new in 2013?

More albums. We are trying to pump them out faster and on
schedule. Nothing is slowing us down anytime soon.

Are you aware of your popularity in Europe? Do you plan any
European shows in 2013?

Working on getting over there and rocking out as soon as
possible.

If you can say something, that everybody in the world can
hear at the same time, what would that message be?

Turn off your TV. Do not follow. Do not fear. Be real. Go
buy records!

Do you think that there is more space for rock to improve
and to roll in the future?

Absolutely. As long as people keep teaching their children
to play guitar. As long as shitty bands are on the TV, the rock group down the
street will strive to bring better music to the people. There is A LOT of room
for improvement! And I have faith!

To conclude, tell me which new album you have been listening
lately?

Nothing new as of late. Pulled out all of my Beach Boys
records the other day.

Rock & Roll has been riddled with odd, peculiar, and
disturbing stories in its 60 year lifespan. I can think of a few that deserve
mentioning, especially the story of Iron Butterfly’s bassist, Philip Taylor
Kramer, whom after departing the band had obtained a degree in aerospace
engineering, and was working under the United States department of defense as
well as computer engineering until he disappeared under very mysterious and
suspicious circumstances. However, that shall be saved for another article. One
of my favorite stories of the past 20 years is the creation of the album The
Holy Bible.

Initially a quartet, Richey Edwards was the face of The
Manic Street Preachers, and their Clash-esque brand of Punk. After two albums,
the onslaught of attention went to Richey's head and drove him over a cliff;
spiraling downward into a pit of self-destruction, despair, and nihilistic
delusion. It was in his very unstable state of mind that he commenced upon his
dark magnum opus in the form of diary entries made song. Richey held nothing
back in his lyrics—this was his confessional to the world. He had lost all hope
and so therefore, he had nothing to fear, and could not be bothered to exude
anything but his pent-up angst and forlorn fury. The album was completed and
released to critical acclaim, but their performance on Top of the Pops—Richey
in particular, clad in a 'terrorist-style' balaclava—garnered the show their
most complaints ever. Manic Street Preachers disappeared from the charts very
quickly.

Two months after the release of the album, Richey simply
vanished. Oddball sightings were noted but nobody could say where in the world
he had gone to. Furthermore, for a solid two weeks the exact amount of $200
dollars was withdrawn from his bank account every single day. It eerily
correlated with the lyrics of his song "Yes" regarding prostitution;
"for $200 anyone can conceive a God on video." Finally his car was
found abandoned without any clues. The band had set aside a percentage of
royalties since his disappearance, but it wasn't until 2008 that his family had
him declared dead. Richey was eccentric and mentally frayed enough that a
disappearance would not entirely discount a miraculously unexplained
reappearance, but sadly, suicide is the most likely explanation considering his
mental state. Anonymous tips regarding his whereabouts still roll in to this
day.

All in all, The Holy Bible is a masterwork of bleakness and
a destitute look at the state of our society. It serves as a lesson to those
who step into the darker realm of humanity; one must possess a wholesome spirit
to avoid the path toward corruption when investigating these borders. It is,
regardless, a very fine work in raw Punk musicianship, even with its morbidly
frank, hopeless and stoic nature.

Long ago and far away, in a world that
existed before digital domination, fly by night imprints tapped producers and
studio musicians to spit out albums mirroring the popular sounds of the day.
The sole goal was, to of course make money, not an artistic statement. But a
fair number of these exploitation efforts were astonishingly good, particularly
those born during the psychedelic era. The crafty faces behind such ventures
naturally remained nameless, as no credits ever appeared on the record sleeves.
But the so-called bands were christened, sporting handles that were downright
silly or strange. The Colorado based Gear Fab label has been doing a fantastic
job resurrecting these “cashing in on the hippest fad” albums, and its latest
treasure couples two extremely rare relics onto one disc.

Originally released in 1968, “Supreme
Psychedelic Underground” by Hell Preachers Inc. is so freaky and off the wall
that it leads the listener to wonder what dimension these performers were
operating in. Slathered in a spellbinding sauce of swirling keyboards,
snake-charming Middle Eastern motifs and gothic vocals, “Shalom” kicks in as a
platinum-plated raga rock piece, the pummeling bite of “Curante” is tempered by
a giddy bubblegum chorus of la la la la la la, and “We Like The White Man,” with its hypnotic
tribal drumming and repetitious chant of “We Like The White Man” could easily
pass as an early rap song. Dancing organ passages, accompanied by blasts of
monster guitar dynamics wire “Time Race” and “Turn Turn” thumps and pumps to an
acid-damaged Bo Diddley beat. Rumor has it that Ritchie Blackmore, Jon Lord and
Ian Paice of Deep Purple donated their talents to “Supreme Psychedelic
Underground,” which is not surprising, considering the influence of the hotshot
British band looms large. Traces of Iron Butterfly, Pink Floyd and Steppenwolf
can also be detected, but employed in a far weirder and wackier context if you
can imagine that.

From 1971, there’s Ugly Custard’s
“Pscosis,” which includes only instrumentals.
Spurred by soft acoustic strumming, a cover of “Scarboro Fair” suddenly
shifts focus and morphs into a loud and heavy hunk of crazed jamming, while
renditions of “Babe I’m Gonna Leave You” and “Hung Upside Down” further
pronounce the band’s penchant for excessive improvising. Big and bold jazz
rhythms flood the swinging “Custard’s Last Stand,” “Feel This” romps and rolls
to a funky groove, and “Cry From The Heart” pings and tings to an enterprising
exhibition of coiling melodies and lightly battered wah wah doodlings. Lifting
a cue from the daring dabblings of Yes and Deep Purple, but presented in a
rather kitschy fashion, the Ugly Custard clearly aped the flashy progressive
rock of the times. Complex structures, matched
by flamboyant six-string work and soulful keyboard exercises indeed furnish the
band’s material with a spacey bent.

Flush with fascinating ideas, both “Supreme
Psychedelic Underground” and “Pscosis” stamp a premium on exaggerated
impressions and expressions. Some of the stuff is absolutely nightmarish and
cheesy, not to mention self-indulgent and bombastic, but admittedly fun and
highly inventive as well. Crank the volume to maximum effects and dig it!

Morning Dew came from Topeka, Kansas. They
released one album on Roulette Records. Their album is one of the best in US
psych genre. Here is the interview/story made by Mal Robinson, their guitarist.

Roots/music influence

Don Sligar (drummer) and I (Mal Robinson
-lead singer/guitar) met and got acquainted at Holiday Junior High School in
Topeka, Kansas during the period of 1961-1963. In the summer of 1963, we formed
our first band “The Impax”. This was primarily an instrumental group, playing
Ventures and surf songs of various
groups like the Chantays, Surfari’s, etc. Vocals were limited but did perform a
few vocal songs. We did a mean version of
“Rocky Road” by Gene Vincent.

In
early 1964, we changed the name for brief time to “The Runaways” doing similar
material but more vocals. At this time we had added Don Shuford on bass guitar
and back-up vocals. Then, in the summer
of 1964, we became “The Durations” upon the addition and influence of Steve
Dahl (trumpet and vocals) and Ray Lisher (saxophone) doing mostly R&B
tunes…. Kingsmen , James Brown, among others. It was a period when Don and I
were listening and trying various music styles. We became dissatisfied with the
musical direction of the Durations so we broke away from the band later that year. Steve Dahl later joined “The
Red Dogs”, a local R&B band out of Lawrence, Kansas (which was about 20
miles away).

The Durations were an R&B/Soul Band
from Topeka, Kansas. Robinson, Sligar
and Shufford were members of this band. The Durations @ Topeka Drive-In -

In
1965, we decided to rebuild the band with Don Sligar on drums, Don Shuford on
bass, and myself on lead guitar and lead vocals. By this time, we were
listening to a lot of Bob Dylan, the Byrds…folk and folk rock. We stayed three
piece for a while: drums, bass, and guitar (I bought my first 12 string
electric guitar!) and we named ourselves “The Toads” (similar to names like The Byrds, The Turtles, The Critters, The
Beatles,etc.). We performed a lot of Dylan,also The Byrds, some of the folksy
Beatles stuff like “You’ve Got to Hide Your Love Away”. We fell in love with the music of the
Lovin’Spoonful and started performing their material, but realized our
instrumentation was limited and decided to add another member. By this time,
Don Sligar was attending the local college….Washburn University and I was a
senior in high school (winter of 1965-66). Don Sligar had a fraternity brother
at Washburn who happen to play guitar. His name was Don Anderson so we added
“Andy” (his nickname) to the band. We now had three guys in the band named
“Don” so we used nicknames…Don Anderson was “Andy”; Don Shuford was “Shuf”; and
Don Sligar was “Tommy”(there is a story behind that nickname I won’t go into
here). Any way,the folk and folk-rock sounds were not getting us many
gigs………the kids couldn’t dance to it and not much of it was Top 40 radio
material. So, we decided to play more variety of material and with it came the
change in name to “The Morning Dew” in June 1966. Because we were one M (Mal)
and three Don’s(D) we wanted to find a band name that had the initials M and D.
We came up with The Morning Dew as a
possibility and we had heard the song by the same name written by Tim Rose and
recorded by The Grateful Dead so we went with it. We actually played the song
for awhile at our gigs but eventually dropped the song from our playlist. We
were not influenced by either of these artists musically, but simply liked the
Morning Dew as a band name. At this same time, I was starting to write original
material for the band. We did not record
or release any material in the early bands until we became The Morning
Dew.

The Toads

The
Topeka music scene and other local bands

The music scene in Topeka (a town of about
100,000 people) during the period of 1963-1966 was busting out. Many bands were
being formed by teenage kids, not only inspired by the Beatles and the British
Invasion but also The Beach Boys and many other U.S. groups. You could classify
the bands in two categories: R&B (with horns) and the guitar bands playing
British sounds and garage rock. Some of the R&B groups from Topeka that were
popular at the time were The Argons and The Rising Suns. The popular
British/Garage Rock groups were The Jerms, The Burlington Express, The
Thingies, and The Morning Dew. The Jerms were strictly a cover band that did
British bands, mostly Beatles. They even talked with a British accent on
stage. Back then, I think all the local bands tended to
influence each other because we were all competing for same jobs in town. There
was a kid about two years younger than us who was in a band called “The
Gimlets” that was starting to make a name for himself and that was Kerry
Livgren who later in 1970-71 became one of the founding members of the band
“Kansas”.

Morning Dew first recording

In the summer of 1966, after I had written
a few original songs, we decided to go to a recording studio in Lawrence,
Kansas called Audio House to record some music. We got booked on a TV show in
St. Joseph, Missouri called Let’s Dance and we needed a recording to lip sync
to. We also thought we could use a demo
tape to get bookings and perhaps get a record deal. We selected two originals:
“Touch of Magic” and “Winter Dreams” . We also added a traditional blues song
“Sportin Life” recorded on the first album of the Lovin Spoonful and a rock
song “I’m not Your Steppin’ Stone recorded by Paul Revere and the Raiders. Our
main idea was to show off some original tunes and show some versatility. None
of these songs were released commercially.
In 1966, our musical influences included The Lovin Spoonful, Paul Revere
and the Raiders, The Outsiders, The McCoys, Spencer Davis Group, Young Rascals
just to name a few. Don Sligar and I bought dozens of albums together,
listening to a lot of different styles.
We were especially fond of the groups who had a “stage act”…dancing with
their guitars, standing on their amps, engaging the crowd. The main influence
of this recording experience was the fact we liked the sound of the original
songs and was inspired to create more of that.

Fairyland Records experience

Our local booking agent in Topeka was a
fellow named Larry Knouft who eventually became affiliated with a booking
agency in Columbia, Missouri called “Fairyland Productions”. One of their
primary artists and founding member of the agency was Lou Rennau of Goldilocks
and the Three Bears…..a Missouri R&B band that was very popular in the
Midwest USA. In 1967, they built a small recording studio in Columbia, Missouri
(about 180 miles from Topeka, Ks.) called Fairyland Recording Studio which had
an affiliated publishing and record company….Fairyland Publishing and Fairyland
Records. We took our recording interests
to their studio as it was ran by someone “ in the band business” and we thought
they would add more value to what we were trying to do. By this time, I had
written several more songs.

Early band that did Fairyland Recordings

In 1967, we completed two recording
sessions at their studio. The first session was “No More” and the B side: “Look
At Me Now” both written by me. We originally pressed 1,000 copies on Fairyland
Records and distributed it ourselves in local record stores. It sold out fast,
so we printed another 1,000 copies and it sold out over time. “No More” reached
the top ten on local radio stations and spent about 12 weeks in the top 40
survey. We went back to Fairyland for
the second session and recorded two more original songs- “Be A Friend” and the
other side“Go Away”. There was much
debate as to which side to release as our second single and we ended up going
with “Be A Friend” so we could show our versatility (versus “Go Away” which was
more similar to “No More” in style). We printed 1,000 copies and it didn’t
quite sell out so it was not nearly as successful. On hindsight, releasing “Go
Away” may have been a safer and better choice.

The two single releases did boost our
popularity in the Midwest Region during the 1967-1968 period. Our bookings
increased and we were represented by three booking agencies in the area. We
played in the states of Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, and some in Oklahoma and
Arkansas. We also were picked up as the opening act by several more well known
bands who came to perform in the area including The Drifters, The Turtles, Gary
Puckett and the Union Gap, and Strawberry Alarm Clock. We also did a concert with another
local band that opened for us called “Saratoga”. This group later
became the band “Kansas”. In the summer of 1967 and the summer of 1968 we
played month long gigs (five nights a week)
at Ron’s Townhouse at the Lake of the Ozarks in Missouri. This was where
the band really honed their skills and really developed a tight sound.

Mal in action

Fairyland Sessions in Summer of 1968

We had pretty much did all we could do with
the two singles we released with Fairyland (No More and Be A Friend) and had
not contracted with any national record labels. We felt we needed to record
more songs and create a larger portfolio of songs to take to get a contract
with a major label.

So we returned to Fairyland Studios and
recorded several of my original songs over that summer. The songs were: Lady
Soul, Then Came the Light, Rainbow Woman, Sycamore Dreamer, Something You Say, Cherry
Street, Our Last Song, and Money Honey Blues, plus we did a song that was
written by a local writer in Columbia named Phil Jackson called “Sing Out”. We
also recorded “Sportin Life” during this session. Our music influences moved
closer to the Yardbirds, Buffalo Springfield, Cream, and Hendrix, to name a
few…a “harder” sound.

Mal on lead guitar/vocal; Don Sligar on
Drums, Don Anderson- rhythm guitar; and in the background Don Shuford on bass.

We soon took an acetate of these songs to
New York to meet with several record labels to see if we could get signed.
Meetings took place with ABC/Dunhill, Laurie Records, Bell Records, and others.
We had an appointment with Roulette but they didn’t show up. There was no
interest, as the labels didn’t feel there were any songs that could be released
as singles. None of these recordings were released on Fairyland Records as we wanted
to go with a national label. We thought about producing our own album from
these recordings but we couldn’t afford it.
Later, a local producer/agent from the Columbia, Missouri named Pete Shanaberg (who was affiliated with Fairyland) took the
acetate to New York and met with several record companies (one of which was
Roulette Records) and he successfully got us a verbal commitment from Roulette
Records in January, 1969.

Influence to Psychedelic Music/Drugs

In 1967, I started college at Washburn University
in Topeka, Ks. So, by the 67-68 timeframe all of the band members were
attending Washburn. Pot smoking was fairly common with the students at that
time, so many were doing it socially at parties, etc. We did pot and a little hashish too but
nothing more ….never dropped acid. But, the drug experience definitely
influenced our perspectives and attitudes. At the same time, the music trends
with predominantly guitar rock bands were moving to the sounds of the
“advanced” Beatles, Yardbirds, Cream, Hendrix, Stones, Buffalo Springfield,
Iron Butterfly,Jefferson Airplane, Moby Grape, etc. So, more than anything The Morning Dew , was
influenced by the broader changes taking place in music. Topeka, Kansas in the Midwest USA was not
really a leader in any change, but more a follower of what was happening on the
east and west coast of the US.
Myself and the band though fell
in love with the “fuzz tone” as you can tell on several of our recordings. My first fuzz was the Gibson Maestro which I
used on “No More”. By the summer of 1968, and those sessions with Fairyland
Recording Studio, I used the Mosrite fuzz…as it had a fuller/smoother sound. I
continued to use it until the band broke up in May, 1971.

Story behind Roulette Album

As mentioned earlier, a producer/agent by
the name of Pete Shanaberg (located in Columbia, Missouri and affiliated with
Fairyland) got us a recording contract with Roulette Records. He also
represented some Columbia, Missouri based acts:
Morganmasondowns (folk); Don Cooper (folk): and, Trish Vandervere (an
actress). In January of 1969, we
received a “verbal” agreement to sign. Before proceeding with a final contract
signing, representatives from Roulette wanted us to record a couple more songs
and hear us play live (as it had been several months since the Fairyland
recordings and we had a new bass player-Blair Honeyman who had replaced Don
Shuford as Don was drafted into the
Army.) So, in the Spring of 1969, we
went back to Fairyland Recording Studios and recorded another original “Young
Man” and a cover version of “Get Together” by the Youngbloods. Then in June of
1969, Fred Munao of Roulette Records came to Topeka to hear us play live at a
local Club called “The Touch of Gold”. It was at that audition, we officially
signed our recording contract with Roulette calling for the release of two
albums over the next two years. Looking
back,we became pioneers of the Topeka music scene as we were the first rock n
roll band in the city to get a national recording contract.

In August, 1969 we loaded up our Chevy van
and drove to New York to record the album. We recorded at Bob Gallo Studios on
42nd street, about two doors down the street from Broadway and Times Square.
The whole album was recorded in 32 hours over a three day period with very
little retakes. After the sessions, they later dubbed over the harmonica part
on Country Boy Blue and the strings on Something You Say. I was later told they wanted to release one
or both of those songs as a single. Ironically, they seemed to like our softer
sounds more than the harder sounds, as they really never had any hard
rock/psychedelic artists under contract. So, on hindsight, I’m not sure we were
a good match for that label.

As for equipment, I used a Vox Royal
Guardsman amp, Gibson ES335 and Mosrite fuzz tone. I used a Fender acoustic
guitar for the softer sounds. We used a Vox organ on Gypsy. The bass player
used Fender gear. Our rhythm guitarist used a Guild electric guitar with Vox
amp. Our drummer liked Ludwig Drums.

Band in Central Park during Roulette
Recording

My strongest memories of the Roulette
experience:

It was a whirlwind experience, a 30 hour
drive to New York and a one week long stay at the Hotel Albert in Greenwich
Village (Led Zepplin were staying there at the same time). Three days at the recording studio mixed in
with a photo shoot in Central Park. I
spent my 21st birthday in NYC. We met with Morris Levy, President of Roulette
to “beg” for a cash advance so the band would have some spending money while in
the city. He bitched and moaned, but ended up cutting us a check for $1,000.
The only money we ever saw from Roulette. Oh, I recall he also gave us a
Kustom bass amp that he later
repossessed and had someone come to Topeka to get it (now, that sent us a
message).

The album was not released until 1970. We
later found out that Roulette was mired in legal troubles at the time, owing
back taxes, falsifying financial records, etc.…..Levy was accused of tax
evasion and was reputed to be linked to the mob. He later went to prison and
died there in the 1980’s. The second album never came about. I received a brief
three sentence paragraph letter from them in 1974 saying they had cancelled our
contract. To this day, I never received an official accounting for the album. I
was told there were 10,000 copies printed but most of them were “destroyed in a
warehouse fire”. I have no idea how many were distributed on a retail basis.
(You should read the book by Tommy James-“Me, the Mob, and My Music” to get
some further insight to the dealings of Roulette Records).

You asked about the album cover: it was
taken from a collection of photos done by a professional photographer who
happened to live downstairs from the apartment in NYC Pete Shanaberg was
staying at the time. When we met with Morris Levy that day, he boasted it was
the most money that they had ever spent on an album cover…..I just wish they
would have invested in a little more in studio time for us. This same
photograph later showed up in the 60’s movie “Joe”.

Potential second album with Roulette

Our contract called for a second album with
Roulette. In late 1970, at the request of Fred Munao of Roulette, we went into
the studio to record some more original material for Fred to listen to. This
time we decided to go to Audio House
Recording in Lawrence, Ks. (as it was closer and cheaper). We basically set up
and played live on a four track recorder then mixed it down and overdubbed my
vocals.

By this time we had a couple more changes
to the band. Don Anderson had left the group and was replaced by Ferdy Baumgart
who played Hammond Organ and some Lead Guitar. We also added Dave Howell who
played guitar and piano. This was a true experimental time for our band. Our
sound became much more progressive and complex, influenced a lot by
Ferdy’s skill as an arranger. I would
take the basic song to practice and Ferdy as well as Don Sligar and the other
guys would put in certain intros, endings, breaks, and fills to round out the
song. At this session (which was done in four hours one afternoon) we recorded
originals: Satin’s Got A Hold On Thee, Someday, My Kind of Music, Flying Above
Myself, Lion/Away from It All, and 1849.
The quality of the recording is not that great, the songs are raw and somewhat
unfinished, as we basically considered
this a practice tape to send off to Roulette and to use for our own sound
development. None of these recordings
were released commercially at the time. Roulette pretty much stonewalled us
regarding a second album release. Their feedback was generally positive but
they wouldn’t definitely commit or schedule a second New York recording session
for us. It was very frustrating. Of course, we later learned that Roulette was
totally distracted with their legal issues. The recording was picked up by
Cicadelic/Collectables in the 1990’s and released on CD as “The Second Album”.

Comments on particular songs

First Album(Roulette):

A1-Crusader’s Smile: It is simply about
traveling in a band, playing guitar to entertain others, often getting requests
to bring out the acoustic at the band parties. I met my “wife to be” at about
this time, but “she didn’t know that my mind could float away, cause I play my
guitar to make people happy”. And we’re still married after 42 years. I feel the highlight of this song is Don’s
percussion work…it really turns an ordinary song into something you want to
listen to over and over. He worked his
ass off on this song when we played it live….he was inspirational.

A2-Upon Leaving: We wanted another slow song for the Roulette
album so I penned this. Another travel song….about a guy leaving his lover and
not knowing if he’ll make it back or see her again. It is a common feeling/fear
we all have every time we separate from someone we love for any period of time.

A3-Young Man: There is a Bo Diddley inspiration in there
somewhere. Again, great percussion by
Don. He is actually playing the drums with a pair of maracas. (Not sure that
had been done before). We were a high energy band when we played live and I
think this song fits that high energy category. It’s simply about how fearless and sometimes
stupid we are when we’re young. And I wrote this when I was 20 yrs. old. And
now, you look back, and it’s so true but we’d all do it again if we had the
chance. I guess I had some foresight on this one.

A4-Then Came the Light:I actually liked the Fairyland version ( with
my Vox wah -wah pedal) better than the Roulette version. For some reason, we
nixed the wah-wah when we got to New York. It’s about a guy who thinks he can
see the future(at age 20) but when he gets to the “future”(at age 40) he
doesn’t know it. Make sense? OK, so this was a little drug induced. Oh, you know I went out on 42nd street in NYC
to sing with the traffic in the background at the end of the song(“I saw the
light, I saw the light”). A microphone from the Control Room in the studio was
dropped out the window down to the street and I sang into it.

A5-Cherry Street: When we recorded at
Fairyland, we were there for several days and stayed at a guys house on Cherry
Street and there seemed to be a lot of frustrated people living on that street.
That is basically the theme. Frustrated people looking for something better. I
must admit, there is definite Cream influence on this one (I’d like to hear
Jack Bruce sing it with Eric Clapton taking the lead parts). Roulette didn’t
like the toilet flush at the end ( on the Fairyland version) so we didn’t do it
in New York. The Mosrite fuzz has one of its better tones here….I liked the fuzz guitar trying to
mimic my singing “fire, fire, everything’s on fire” in the last phrases of the
song.

B1-Gypsy: I was always fascinated by
gypsies….the way they lived, moved around. The intro to this song was actually
inspired by the movie “Exodus”. It is probably a poor resemblance of the theme
song to that movie, but any way that is what inspired some of the vocal and
back up guitar licks to the vocal in the intro. Given, the theme of the song
(Gypsies)….I felt it had to move fast once the intro was over.

B2-Something You Say: I was in one of my
mushy, Bee Gee moods on this one, but inspired by the love of my life of
course! My daughter wanted this song played at her wedding 40 years later so
that really made it all worthwhile. I
think the band liked this song because it showed some versatility. I like the song very much, I just wish someone
else would have recorded and sang it. My vocal falls short on this one, I
think. There is someone out there that could really do this song justice…maybe
a Van Morrison type.

B3-Country Boy Blue: This is the band’s theme
song for traveling all across the great state of Kansas ,playing our music, and
having some fun at the same time. We had to give it a country sound. Many of my
friends today, like this one the best …they’ve outgrown the psych stuff

B4-Save Me: I had the lyrics written and few
chords but wasn’t sure how I wanted to put the song together. At the time, Don
Sligar was living with Kerry Livgren at a house here in Topeka. I went over
there one night and played what I had to Kerry and he finished it for me in
about thirty seconds. The song was written for a “bigger orchestral sound” but
we settled for the four of us instead.
Of course, about a year later Kerry Livgren was taking his band “ Kansas” to record after they signed with
Don Kirshner and the rest is history as they say.

B5-The Epic: The Mann/Death is A Dream: These
are two songs with separate but related themes that we decided to put together
on the Roulette album. The Mann (with two “n’s”) is simply about a guy who has
everything, but kills himself at the end of the song (the gunshot and slowing
of the record speed to a stop). Death is A Dream is just about what it is
about….death. What we prefer to not talk about, so my thought here is what if
death is like just being asleep and then you awake just like always. OK,
another drug influenced song. I think after I thought of this lyric and wrote
it down….I went to get the Cheetos! The little flamingo guitar rif at the start
was done on the Fender acoustic. A
little leftover I wanted to put in Gypsy but couldn’t fit it in there.

Second
Album material:

This represents a big
change in our sound as we feature Ferdy Baumgart playing the Hammond. I’m now using a Gibson
Les Paul with my Mosrite fuzz occasionally, but not as much. We had also added Dave Howell on keyboards
and guitar. Eventually, Bill Stahlin from St.Joe, Missouri replaced Blair Honeyman on bass….Bill was a
friend of Steve Walsh, lead singer for “Kansas”. We were in a more experimental
phase of our music.)

1-Someday: An ecology message. Ferdy was a “power” player on the Hammond. And , it
shows on several of these tunes. I do like the Les Paul fuzz lead at the end of
the song.

2-Flying Above Myself: I think this is my
favorite song of the session. Great, high energy Hammond lead in the middle of
the song with some great percussion back up by Don. It sounds like something
Santana might do with his keyboard player…..of course there is no guitar lead
in this song. Now the lyrics in this song are totally about being stoned….pure
and simple. However, we never performed under the influence. We could derive
inspiration from being under the influence, but we always put the songs out
sober.

3-My Kind of Music: This is a break from
the Hammond sound in the other songs. Ferdy plays guitar lead on a Gibson
ES335. Country music has always been very popular in Kansas and this is a song
written about those fans or audiences.

4-Lion/Away From It All: This was to be
our second “Epic” for the second album, again putting two songs together.
“Lion” is the representation of the cruel world out there and “Away From It
All” is about getting with the love of your life, forgetting your troubles, and
getting away from all your troubles. The music centers around Ferdy’s Hammond and my guitar parts playing
off one another.

5-1849: Again, nice break from the “front
and center” Hammond sound. Dave Howell is on Hammond with Ferdy on one lead
guitar and me on the other. We saw a documentary about the California gold rush
in the late 1840’s and that inspired the song.

6-Satin’s Gotta Hold On Thee: I like the
body of the song and the lyric, but it just doesn’t seem to reach its potential
as a song. I think we may have taken off in too many different directions on
this one. It is interesting though. It is about people in general not being
satisfied, being hypocritical, and pretty much losing their way. Maybe this is
why the music drifts in different directions.

7-Money Honey Blues: This was actually
recorded in our Fairyland Sessions as a filler song. We pretty much wrote and
arranged it in the studio….it is the early Dew sound. Lou Rennau plays the
piano on this. It so happened that
Cicadelic/Collectables put this on the Second Album release as a filler to the
other ones.

8-Then Came the Light: This is the version
done at Fairyland Recording Studio. Later, re-recorded on the Roulette album in
New York.

9-Something you Say: Again, this is the
Fairyland Recording Studio version. Later, re-recorded on the Roulette album in
New York.

10-Our Last Song: Again, this was done at
Fairyland Recording Studio only.

Some of the Fairyland recordings were put
on the “Second ‘Album” by Cicadelic/Collectables as filler to the songs we
recorded at Audio House for Roulette to consider for a second album on their
label.

Concepts Behind the Albums

There really were no concepts to the albums
per se. The Roulette album was titled “At Last” because it took them so long to
release it. There were no singles released from the album ( we would have voted
for Crusader’s Smile if one had been done). Most of our radio play came on FM
Rock Radio stations at the time, which were just really starting to take
off. The so called second album really
never came about but probably the underlying theme of the songs is how difficult
it can be to live on this earth at times
and how man has tended to “screw it up”.

Inspirations other than
music:

I had a poetry professor in college that inspired me to write. I always
liked the large production movies like Exodus.
No particular other books or movies come to mind. All the guys in the band grew up in a lower-
middle class neighborhood and I think music inspired us to try to improve our
life situations to some extent.

The band’s break up

In the
Spring of 1971 it became difficult to hold the band together. It was obvious
the second album was not going to happen, hell they didn’t even adequately
promote the first album. A national tour never materialized and we were back
playing the Midwest USA circuit….playing a lot of colleges and psych theme
clubs. We had pretty much priced ourselves out of the regional market and
couldn’t make enough money to keep it going. We just got discouraged. We all
had college degrees by this time and several of us were married and it just
felt like we needed to move on to the “real world”. Our last gig was in May, 1971 in Garden City,
Kansas.

Last band that did Audio House in 1970

What are we doing now?

Mal Robinson: I went to work at an
insurance company in Topeka and retired after 35 years of service. I continue
to live in Topeka,Ks. but travel a lot with my wife. I have two daughters in
S.California. I did not play professionally again until 1993. I joined a
classic rock n roll cover band called “The Bop Daddies” and we’re still playing
today, performing music from 1955-1975 era. We play clubs and private parties.

Don Sligar (drummer): Don moved with his
wife to the Northwest, living in Northern California, Eastern Washington and
settling in Portland, Oregon. Taught school for a while, but then became an
Education Specialist for the State of
Oregon. He played in the early 70’s in a band called “Cimmaron” but after that
never really played professionally again. Don and his wife are now retired in
Florida. His big love now is Zydeco music and has learned to play the Dobro and
jams with some of the ol’ farts down there.

Don Anderson (rhythm guitar): Married and went to work for the State of
Kansas as an accountant and is retired living in Topeka, Ks. For several years
he has played the upright bass in a popular local bluegrass band called “Past
Tense”. They have recorded a couple of CDs.

Don Shuford (bass/vocals): Got married and went to work for an energy
company and is now retired after working there for over 30 years. He never
played professionally again.

Blair Honeyman (bass/vocals) : Married with
family and is getting close to retirement but has worked many years for a paint
company on the retail side of the business. Blair never played professionally
again. Back in the day, Blair was the bass player for the Burlington Express
before he joined the Dew.

Ferdy Baumgart (organ/guitar): Ferdy moved
away for awhile and played in several regional rock bands but eventually moved
back to Topeka were he settled with his wife. Ferdy joined my cover band “The Bop Daddies” in the
mid 90’s and unfortunately passed away in 2006. He was still performing with me
at that time.

Dave Howell (keyboards/guitar): Dave is married and lives in Virginia and is
now retired after a successful career in Human Resource management with the
Federal government. Dave never played professionally again.

Bill Stahlin (bass player in last version of the band):
Bill lives in Portland, Oregon. Most of his career has been spent as a Quality
Tester of bass guitars and amps for Fender Music Co.

Final Comments

It is surreal to me that after so many
years, music collectors from all over the world continue to express interest in the music and maturation
of the Morning Dew from 1966-1971. The whole “Dew” experience culminated in
March, 2010 when we were inducted to the Kansas Music Hall of Fame and I was
able to reassemble Don Sligar, Don Anderson, Dave Howell, and Blair Honeyman
and perform No More, Money Honey Blues,
Sportin’ Life, Country Boy Blue, Young Man, and Crusader’s Smile at the
induction ceremonies to a crowd of about 700 at Liberty Hall in Lawrence, Ks.
(40 years since we had last played together).
You know, 40 years between gigs is a long time!

CAN has given us a very rare sort of treat
that, as the years stack on, is less and less likely to crop up in the world of
music. Their innovative minds elevate this to a cause for celebration, for CAN
changed a great deal in the landscape of music in the seventies. They created
entire genres of music with single tracks—all of which, were almost entirely
composed on impulse and edited down to their signatured complexity and chaotic
perfection.

The Lost Tapes are boiled down to thirty
tracks spread across three discs, and they showcase every aspect and stage in
the evolution of our beloved CAN. From the very first track,
"Millionenspiel," and its slow onset of layered sound that erupts
into an unconventionally engrossing groove complimented by flute, it is
immediately apparent that these aren't just garbled, bootleg quality tracks
that sat in a damp basement collecting mold for four decades. We are talking
prime studio quality material. This is history. Or rather, a history lesson in
the evolution of Rock & Roll.

All of their most prominent influences come
through, each track standing completely on its own as an example of their
heritage. The "Evening All Day" examplifies their fondness for von
Beil-esque compositions as far back as 1969, while "True Story" gives
the impression that the boys had paid a visit to New York, and sat in on some
beat poetry sessions—the electronic drone gives a sense of horror to the whole
scenery. The scatter-brained, off the hinges "Deadly Doris" can only
suggest that The Beatles' White Album was a fleeting precursor, "Sexy
Sadie" being repeated along with the schizophrenic, mantra-like
"Deadly, deadly, deadly, deadly, deadly Doris."

Their powers of brilliant impulse shred
sixteen minutes into the hypnotic and multi-faceted "Graublau"; when
it's through, time is empty and you'll have lost all concept of it. Strange and
beautiful tracks like "Dead Pigeon Suite" will give you a feel for
their embrace of music from around the world; ethnically diverse
instrumentation and sensual, exotic rhythm, but hardly without a ninety-degree
shift in tone to keep you on your toes as a responsible listener. As the
collection progresses, those familiar with CAN's music will immediately
recognize fragments of CAN staples in what were otherwise discarded tracks,
offering insight into their creative process. The live tracks included are by
no means filler. They showcase classic CAN tracks, given the expansive, time
and space defying treatment that vinyl simply couldn't allow them.

The thrill of listening to these lost tapes
is, and I cannot stress this enough, the knowledge that you are listening to a
group of musicians that are in the budding of their professional career, and
every track is an innovation unto itself. It is history. No band dared tread
where CAN boisterously frollicked. They were the Nikola Teslas of experimental
music; brilliant pioneers, but in the grand scheme they have been criminally
outshined by their students.

Mike Stax, one of the most versatile
members of the professional music industry recently allowed “It’s Psychedelic Baby” a
look into his world. Renowned for his work as a writer, publisher, label owner and
musician, Stax recently shared his story with Psychedelic Baby’s Kevin Rathert.

Mike, you were born in the UK in 1962.
Where was your birthplace and was music a big part of life in the Stax
household?

I was born in Watford, but grew up in
Cheshire, Leicestershire and Yorkshire. It wasn’t a particularly musical household, but the
radio was usually playing and my Dad had a record collection, mostly jazz. More
importantly he had a reel-to-reel tape of the Beatles’ Rubber Soul and Help albums, and I listened
to those repeatedly as a kid, usually on headphones.

Growing up, what kind of music and which
artists in particular were you attracted to?

After those Beatles albums, the next thing
that really grabbed my attention was David Bowie. Watching Top of the Pops was a
weekly ritual, and, like thousands of other English kids, seeing Bowie performing “Starman”
on that show was an absolute revelation, as was “The Jean Genie.” I was
an instant fan. My first album was Aladdin Sane, which I got for Christmas in 1973.
From then on I was on a constant quest for rock & roll. After Bowie, my next obsession
became the Rolling Stones – specifically the Brian Jones era band. Brian Jones seemed
like the ultimate rebellious doomed pop star and I read everything I could about him. At
the age of 14 I even travelled to Cheltenham to visit his grave.

Who was the first artist or group that
you wrote about and what publication was it published in?

I put together my first fanzine when I was
15. It was all about the Rolling Stones. I printed three copies and gave the other two
to my friends.

It is well known that you were a huge
fan of the American blues band The Crawdaddys. How were you first exposed to
their work?

I used to listen to John Peel’s radio show
every night on a transistor radio hidden under my pillow. One night in 1979 he played “Oh
Baby Doll” by the Crawdaddys. I was already a huge fan of ‘60s UK R&B bands
like the Yardbirds, Animals, Pretty Things and the Downliners Sect, so I was
astonished when Peel explained that this was a new record by a band from California. They had
the British ’64 R&B sound down cold. I tracked down the LP at a record shop in
Soho, and a few months later bought an EP and a 45, which were even better. At that point
I wrote a fan letter to the band c/o Bomp Records. Greg Shaw forwarded my letter to
the band’s leader, Ron Silva, and a few weeks later I received a letter from him
asking if I’d be interested in moving to San Diego and becoming their new bass player.
I’d just left school and was unsure of my next move in life. I saved up some money
for a plane ticket working at a vacuum cleaner factory, and within a few months was on a
plane to the United States with my bass guitar in my hand and about 200 dollars in my
pocket.

Crawdaddys 1982 lineup

What was the first bass that you owned?
What did you play in the Crawdaddys and what do you play today?

My first one was a cheap Fender Precision
knockoff. I soon upgraded to a Gibson
EB2. That’s the bass I brought to the
States when I joined the Crawdaddys. But
in San Diego I found a Harmony and loved the sound of that one. I bought it in 1982 for $75. That has been the main bass I use ever since,
though I also have a Burns Baby Bison.

I have read that you relocated to San
Diego, California to become a member of The Crawdaddys. When did you come to the
United States? What was your role in the band and who were the other members?

I moved to the States in November of 1980,
the day before Reagan was elected. At that point the Crawdaddys consisted of Ron Silva
on lead vocals and drums, Keith Fisher on keyboards, Steve Horn on sax and myself on
bass. Soon afterwards we added Joe Piper on guitar. The lineup was constantly
changing throughout 1981-82.

Your relationship with The Crawdaddys
seems to have been full of ups and downs. Would you describe for our readers
your tenure with the band? How much recording did you do with the band?
What caused your exit?

The Crawdaddys was a learning experience
for me. Ron and Keith are exceptional musicians and I’d only been playing bass
for a few months when I joined so there was a sharp learning curve for me. Over time I
turned into a half-decent bass player, but my limitations were a cause of some
friction, especially with Keith, who also had a completely different vision for the band
than I did. He wanted to turn the Crawdaddys into a more sophisticated soul R&B
band, whereas I favored the raw ‘60s punk R&B sound of bands like the Pretty Things and
the Downliners Sect. After six or seven months it all came to a head and they kicked me
out of the group.

You returned to the UK briefly, but
within months you were back to California to stay. How was it returning to England and
why were you there such a short time?

I returned to the UK in the summer of ’81,
but within days – maybe hours – of arriving I knew I’d made a terrible mistake. I
wanted badly to return to the States and more importantly return to playing with the Crawdaddys. There had been a lot of teenage politics in my ousting, and now the
alliances had reconfigured and they wanted me back. I scraped together some money and was soon
back over there. That began a productive era for the Crawdaddys with a stable lineup
comprised of Ron Silva on lead vocals, Peter Miesner on guitar, Keith Fisher on
keyboards, Gordon Moss on drums and myself on bass. We recorded quite a lot of demos
during 1982-83 and some of these were eventually released on the Here ‘Tis LP.

1983 seems to have been a watershed year
for you. Tell us if you will how Ugly Things magazine came about? What was the
inspiration for the magazine? How did you arrive at the title? How many
writers contributed to the first edition?

Ugly Things came about because I felt the
need to turn more people on to the music I was passionate about: ‘60s garage, beat,
R&B and psychedelia. New music at the time was dreadful, synthetic rubbish, much of it
shaped by the MTV mentality. There was a lot of pretty-boy new romantic pop, a lot of
excruciating hair metal bands – all of it seemed phony and superficial to me. I saw ‘60s era
bands like the Seeds, the Pretty Things and Q65 as the antidote. They were raw, crude,
ugly and, above all, REAL. The name “Ugly Things” just seemed to sum it all up for
me. Obviously it was a nod to the Pretty Things, but it was also inspired by the Australian
‘60s punk compilation of the same name, which included the amazing song “Ugly Thing” by
the Creatures. There were only three or four writers at the time: me, and a couple of
friends, most of whom would be a part of my next band, the Tell-Tale Hearts, which we formed
soon afterwards.

What was the focus of Edition #1? In
those pre-internet days how were you able to locate the musicians and other members
of the music industry who you wrote about? How did the Ugly Things staff of
1983 compare with the present day staff?

Issue #1 had an interview with Steve
Garris, a local eccentric who hung around the scene, plus short articles on Q65 and the
Byrds. It wasn’t until Issue #2 that I was able to interview any original ‘60s musicians. That
issue included a lengthy interview I did with Sean Bonniwell of the Music Machine.
Fortunately he turned out to be a very thoughtful and articulate interview subject. It was
his first interview since the ‘60s and the first time ever he’d really talked about his songs in
any depth. Issue #2 also included an interview with members of the Leaves by Ray Brandes.

Locating musicians to interview was much
more difficult in those pre-Internet years. For example, I remember going down to the
public library and pawing through the Mississippi phone directory to find a phone
number for Sid Herring of the Gants. I was successful in that instance, but I often
had to make a lot of awkward cold calls when trying to track down band members. These
days it seems you can find practically anyone with a few clicks on the computer.

As for “staff,” there really wasn’t any. It
was just me and my mates. And 30 years later, it kind of still is – I just have more of them
now.

How many copies of the first edition of
“Ugly Things” were printed? How did your raise the money to have Ugly Things
published and distributed? How did you promote the publication?

I printed 200 copies of the first issue at
first, and later had to do another 200 when that one sold out. I funded it with small loan
from the parents of my friend Carl Rusk, supplemented by a couple of local advertisers. Promotion consisted of taking it round the record shops in San Diego and LA and
selling a few at gigs. But I also mailed copies to some other fanzine publishers such as
Ron Rimsite (99th Floor) and Greg Prevost (Outasite) and that led to some
cross-pollination with the East Coast garage scene.

Subsequent issues thereby ended up for sale
at New York City stores like Venus Records and Midnight. It kind of snowballed from
there. At one point I had a classified ad in Goldmine, but they misspelled it as “UGLY
THINS”!

The same year you became a member of
The Tell-Tale Hearts. How did the band come about and who were your band mates?
You were the bassist in the band, right? Did you write any of the band’s material?

I formed the Tell-Tale Hearts in 1983 with
Ray Brandes (lead vocals), Bill Calhoun (organ, harmonica), Eric Bacher (guitar)
and David Klowden (drums). I played bass. I’d already played in a few ad hoc bands
with Ray and Bill while I was still in the Crawdaddys, and we were close friends. I
was frustrated by the direction the Crawdaddys had been taking and at how little original
material they’d been playing. It was time to start something new. Ray, Bill, Eric and
myself all contributed original material to the new group.

The Tell-Tale Hearts, 1984

The band was signed by Greg Shaw’s
Bomp/Voxx label. What was the relationship between the band and Greg?
Tell us, if you would, what was your personal relationship with Greg like?

Live, 1985

I already knew Greg pretty well, of course,
because of the Crawdaddys. He recognized right away that I was a FAN, a rock &
roll obsessive like him. I was always bugging him for information about different bands,
records and so on, and he was only too happy to share his knowledge with me, along with
countless cassette tapes of his extensive record collection. I think Greg was as frustrated
as I was that the Crawdaddys had failed to come up with another record, so when I told him
I had formed a new group he was immediately very supportive. He gave us a slot on the
second volume of the Battle of the Garages series and soon afterwards offered us a
deal to record a full album. Everything happened really quickly.

Park, 1987

The band cut an LP “The Tell-Tale
Hearts” in 1984 and an EP “The Now Sound of The Tell-Tale Hearts” in 1985. Could you
tell us a bit about the recording sessions for these releases? How were
sales?

The first album was recorded in about two
days at Silvery Moon studios in LA. Greg Shaw had booked blocks of time there
and a lot of the bands on Voxx recorded their debut albums there at around
the time. The Gravedigger V were there the week before us, I think, and the
Miracle Workers came in the week afterwards. Anyway, it was the first time
in a ‘real’ studio for most of the Tell- Tale Hearts so we didn’t have a big say in
the way it was recorded and ultimately were dissatisfied with the result. It
sounded too tame and clean for our tastes.

For our next record we went to Mark Neill
who had a studio in Dulzura on the rural outskirts of San Diego County. He
used all vintage gear, a three-track recorder, tube mixing board,
top-of-the-line ‘50s and ‘60s microphones, etc, plus he was a ‘real’ producer with a great ear.
It made all the difference in the world. I’m still proud of The ‘Now’ Sound record.

Sales? I think each of them sold a couple
of thousand copies, maybe less.

The Tell-Tale Hearts disbanded in 1987.
Why did the band break up? Were you a member of any band between 1987 and 1999
when The Loons released “Love’s Dead Leaves?”

Mike Stax 1988 practice

Eric Bacher left in ’86 and we lost the
original raw chemistry we’d once had. Peter Miesner from the Crawdaddys stepped in, and
did an excellent job, but we kind of lost direction. The band split into factions and
then into pieces. After that Bill and I regrouped with Eric to form the Barons. We started
recording an EP but broke up before we could complete it. Next Bill and I reclaimed the
Tell-Tale Hearts name with Jon McKinney on guitar, Ron Swart on organ and Paul Carsola
on drums. We released a couple of good singles, including a cover of the Pretty
Things’ “Circus Mind” but in retrospect I feel using the Tell-Tale Hearts name was a
mistake because it was a totally different band.

When that band split in 1989, Ron Swart and
I teamed up with three members of the Trebels to form the Hoods: Jay Wiseman
(vocals, harp), Xavier Anaya (guitar), Ron Swart (organ), John Chilson (drums) and
myself on bass. We were together for four or five years and recorded an album
(“Gangsters & Morticians” 1991), some singles and a 12-inch EP (“Four Songs
To Kill”, 1992). It was a fun time. Jay and I formed a pretty solid songwriting
team and I became more proficient at putting songs together and singing harmonies.
Eventually though I got the itch to take next step and become a lead singer and front man, so
in 1996 I formed the Loons, once again with Eric Bacher on guitar, John Chilson (from
the Hoods) on drums and Andy Rasmussen on bass, who was replaced by Gary Strickland
just prior to us recording the “Love’s Dead Leaves” album in 1998.

The Hoods

By the time The Loons first album was
released on Get Hip Records in 1999 “Ugly Things” magazine had been around for
twelve years. Could you describe for our readers the evolution of the
publication to that point?

The first 11 issues were very primitive in
the classic fanzine style. Printed or sometimes just photocopied on 8 ½” x 11”
sheets and stapled down the side. It was all typed out on an old typewriter,
then shrunk down on a Xerox machine and pasted into columns. All the photos had
to be shot as halftones using a huge camera. Paying to have that done was one of
my biggest expenses at the time, but it was money well spent, because even
though the fanzine was very basic in its layout, the photos always reproduced
well, and that became more and more important as we started using more rare or
previously unpublished photos.

The Loons

With Issue #12 Ugly Things entered the
computer age. I started using a desktop publishing program to layout the text, but
I still shot halftones and pasted them in by hand until Issue 23 or 24, because I
found the quality was better that way. Anyway, Issues 12 through 15 were printed
on 11” x 17” paper, then folded and saddle-stitched. The glossy covers began
with #13. Starting with #16 I switched to the perfect bound format as the mag
started to expand its page count. By Issue #20 we were printing 200 page
issues. Circulation expanded with every issue. Issue #1 had an initial print-run of
200 copies. By Issue #16 we were
printing 5,000.

The Loons debut album “Love’s Dead
Leaves” consisted of only original material composed by guitarist Eric Bacher and
yourself, in contrast to your previous bands who recorded many cover versions. Why
the change? How did you and Bacher become a writing team and what was
the writing process like?

The Hoods records had been 95% original
songs, and with the Loons that became 100%. We’ve always played some cover songs in our
live set, but on record I wanted to do something that was entirely our own.
Collaborating with Eric came naturally. He’s a very creative person and would present me
with lots of very inventive riffs and chord progressions. I would edit and shape his
ideas, adding vocal melodies and writing lyrics, and then we’d then work on the final
arrangement together with the rest of the band. On some occasions I would come up with a riff
or chord sequence myself, and then Eric would embellish that, and we’d proceed from
there. “Insecurity Smasher” and “Never Enough” were examples of that.

2002 brought the introduction of Ugly
Things Records and its first release, “The Lost Acetates 1965-1966” by The
Misunderstood, who had released three classic singles in the 60s and a
compilation “Before The Dream Faded” in 1997. Where and when were these acetates
discovered and how were they chosen to be the first release on Ugly Things Records?

I was working on a huge, serialized story
on the Misunderstood at the time. In the course of interviewing the band members, it was
discovered that the drummer, Rick Moe, had a pile of acetates in his attic. They were
never really “lost,” but everyone else had forgotten their existence. As soon as I heard them, I
knew I wanted to release them myself through the magazine. That’s how UT Records began.

2004 brought the release of The Loons
second album, “Paraphernalia.” What were the sessions for “Paraphernalia” like?
How well did the album sell and did it get much radio airplay? Were there any
singles that accompanied the album?

The sessions for Paraphernalia were fairly
haphazard. We began recording the album with Jon Reis of Rocket from the Crypt
producing at his studio, but things weren’t gelling with the band so we abandoned it and
changed our lineup. After a few months rehearsing with a new drummer, Iain Sclater, we
started all over again at Earthling Studio. Things moved along fairly quickly after that. We’d
been sitting on some of the songs for several years and they felt a little stale, to be
honest. But we wrote a few new ones during the sessions, and those turned out the best.
For example, “Another Life” was written just a couple of days before it was recorded, and
the final arrangement happened right on the spot. We had no idea it would be an
11-minute track – everything was cooking so we just let the tape roll until the end of the
reel.

How many releases does the Ugly Things
Records catalog contain at this point? How do you decide which albums earn the
Ugly Things logo? What is the typical process and how long does it take
to complete a project for UTR, from conception to release?

We’ve released eight full-length albums
(three on vinyl and all of them on CD) and four vinyl singles. The process for
each release is different—some take months to plan and release, others happen
much more quickly. I don’t have a regular schedule of releases, they just
happen when the opportunity comes along, invariably as a by-product of a story I’m
researching for the mag.

I love the entire Ugly Things Records
catalog, but are any of the releases especially near and dear to your heart and
if so, why?

The Pretty Things/Philippe Debarge album.
Releasing a lost album from the Pretty Things’ psychedelic era was a huge
achievement for Ugly Things and something I’m very proud of.

You have a store on the Ugly Things
website. When did you open the store and
how do you determine the inventory you carry?

You can check out the inventory here. I try to carry titles that aren't otherwise
widely available (especially in the States) and that are in the same niche we
cover in the magazine. Vinyl does best for us, so that's the main focus, but we
also carry CDs, books, and of course all the Ugly Things releases and back
issues.

The online store began about three years
ago. Prior to that I sold a few things through the regular UT website and in
the pages of the mag itself. I decided to expand that into a webstore, which
was a good move for me. The webstore helps keep me solvent between the
publication of new issues.

You coauthored a book “Like
Misunderstood” with Rick Brown of The Misunderstood. This is called a
biographical novel. What exactly is the book about and why did you and Brown coauthor
it?

Rick and I worked for several years on a
movie screenplay about the Misunderstood and Rick’s subsequent
adventures as a fugitive in India. Rick came up with the idea of turning the
screenplay into an autobiographical novel as another means of presenting the story.

In 2010 The Loons released their third
album “Red Dissolving Rays Of Light.” Once again, all the songs are originals and
the only personnel change was the drummer. What affect has this stability had
on the band? How were sales of the album and were any singles released in
conjunction with it?

Shortly after we completed Paraphernalia,
Iain Sclater left the band, and we brought in Mike Kamoo on drums. Mike runs Earthling
Studio and had produced Paraphernalia so he was already a good friend and very
familiar with our work. His addition changed the entire dynamic of the band and I think
raised us to a new level. As we now practice at Earthling, we’re able to work on new song
ideas all the time, and if something feels right Mike will throw up a few mics and we’ll
record it. Red Dissolving Rays of Light came together that way over the course of
several years. I believe it’s our strongest set of songs by far, and Mike also did a tremendous job
on the production.

As for sales, I believe it’s sold a
thousand copies or so. We continue to languish in obscurity, as we always have,
and there’s no shame in that.

“Red Dissolving Rays Of Light” was
released on Bomp! Records, the late Greg Shaw’s label now run by his widow Suzy. Why
was the album released on Bomp!? Was the label resurrected especially
for this release?

Releasing the album on Bomp was Suzy’s
idea. The label has continued to exist as an outlet for reissues, but the Loons album
was the first new release on Bomp in about 20 years. Bomp has played a big part in my
life over the years – starting with Greg forwarding my letter to the Crawdaddys in
1980 – so it felt like coming home in a way. Suzy and Patrick are great people, and they
have treated us right.

The last two albums have featured your
wife Anja on bass. What is it like to play gigs and record with your wife as part of
The Loons?

Anja has been a Loon for about 14 years now
and she’s absolutely integral to what we do (as are all the band members). She
brings a lot of energy and ideas to the table. Being able to make music together is a really
special part of our lives.

Mike one thing we haven’t discussed are
all the albums you have written liner notes for and/or compiled. How many would
you estimate you have been involved with over the years? Do you
remember the first you ever wrote and/or compiled?

I haven’t kept count, but I’m sure I must
have written liner notes for over a hundred releases by now. I believe the
first set of liner notes I wrote was for Terry Gibson’s “Downliner” album in 1986.
Terry was of course the original lead guitarist for one of my favourite bands,
the Downliners Sect.

Following that line of thought could
you name a few which you consider the most important that you have been involved with?
Which of these projects were the most enjoyable to be involved with?

The two Nuggets box sets were obviously
important as they helped bring a lot of this music to new ears. I really enjoyed writing
the liner notes for Norton’s vinyl reissues of the first two Pretty Things albums (and a
third album of the non-LP singles), and also some of the titles I’ve worked on for
Pseudonym in the Netherlands. The Group 1850 story, for example, is one of the wildest
and most fascinating I’ve worked on. Writing about the Outsiders and Q65 never gets old
either – such great bands.

You have been involved in several reissues on the Dutch Pseudonym label,
such as the new 2 CD edition of the classic album “Crystallization” by Cosmic
Dealer. How did you become involved with
Pseudonym?

I became involved with Pseudonym a few
years ago. I was knocked out by the quality of their releases - the music, the
mastering, the packaging -- but I felt they were missing one important thing: liner notes. So I
offered to start doing that for them. I currently write the notes for about
two-thirds of their releases. It's been a great experience so far, interviewing
all these different Dutch musicians and producers. I usually have two or three
different Pseudonym projects on the go at any given time these days. I only write notes for music I'm enthusiastic
about.

2013 will mark the 30th anniversary of
Ugly Things Magazine. Congratulations on the accomplishment. To what do you
credit the longevity of Ugly Things?

Probably a greatly protracted, undiagnosed
case of obsessive compulsive behavior. It all comes down to the fact that I love what
I’m doing in. I’m excited to wake up every morning and go to work, because I’m working
on the magazine.

Thirty years on, how does circulation
of Ugly Things magazine in 2013 compare to 1983? How many writers contribute to the
publication? How large is the staff at Ugly Things magazine?

The circulation has grown from a few
hundred to over 5,000. As I mentioned earlier, there really are no “staff” in the strict
sense of the word. The magazine is put together by a small circle of friends and fellow
writers around the world who share my passion for this music and the need to share that
passion with other fans. David Biasotti edits the music reviews, Andrew Corbin edits the
book review section, Bill Wasserzieher handles the DVD reviews, and Jeremy Cargill
helps out on a lot of other fronts, including the proofing and sub-editing of the
stories. I handle everything else, including all the administration work, ad sales, shipping,
marketing, and so on. It’s a full-time job that keeps me busy 40-50 hours a week at least.

Looking back on the thirty year history
of Ugly Things magazine there must be some pieces that you consider the most
important and some that you are especially proud of. Would you share a few
with our readers?

One of the pieces I’m most proud of is the
Misunderstood story, which was serialized over four issues starting with UT#20. I
can’t begin to guess how many hours I spent researching that story, interviewing all
the band members, and anyone I could find who was even remotely connected with the band.
The Misunderstood seemed to consume all my waking moments for several years.
But it didn’t feel like work. It was a life experience: I learned so much from it on so
many different levels, not just about the band and their music, but about the entire era
and how it shaped different individuals in very different, often extraordinary ways. I also
formed friendships with some of them that I know will last for the rest of my life.
Working together with Rick Brown on our movie screenplay and having Glenn Campbell play
on two songs on our last album, and then later performing live with us, were just a
few of the unforgettable side effects of doing that story.

There are several other stories over the
years that have affected me in similar ways. Not least of those, of course, has been my
ongoing relationship with the Pretty Things. I started out as just another naïve fan
fawning over them, and now I’m part of their extended family. In 2013, the year I
celebrate Ugly Things’ 30th anniversary, the Pretty Things celebrate their own 50th anniversary
as a band. There’s a special kind of symmetry or synchronicity in that, I think.

As for your thirty years as a musician,
what are your most memorable moments? What do you consider your best
compositions? What recording sessions are the most memorable? Would you share a couple
“on the road” stories of touring over the years.

That’s a lot of ground to cover. So many
memorable moments. Singing “Rosalyn” together with Phil May onstage with the
Pretty Things a few years ago was certainly one of them. Also the show we played with Glenn
Campbell guesting was unforgettable. When he played his solo during “I Can Take
You to the Sun” I felt I was levitating several feet off the floor of the stage. I
can’t begin to describe how amazing that felt.

Perhaps the most memorable recording
sessions were those for the first Loons album with Ebbot Lundberg as our producer. He
really brought out the best in us and our material, and turned it into something
special.

I’ll leave it up to the listener to decide
what our best compositions are. For me it’s always the next song we’re working on.

Loons, Paris 2005

What does the year 2013 hold in store
for Mike Stax? A new album by The Loons? Are there any special recordings
slated for release by Ugly Things Records? I know this question isn’t fair,
but I have to ask it anyway: Are there plans for any special topics set to be
published in Ugly Things magazine in the future that you can share with us? Just had
to ask. LOL

Well, 2013 is a landmark year for me
because it’s the 30th anniversary of Ugly Things magazine. We have a big three-day
celebration in the works for Memorial Day Weekend at the Casbah here in San Diego. There’ll
be some great bands playing (including, hopefully, a couple of big names near and
dear to the world of Ugly Things – these yet to be confirmed at the time of writing),
and we’re also having film screenings, book signings and other fun stuff. Mark your
calendars and watch the Ugly Things website and Facebook page for updates.

Hopefully the Loons will finish another
album this year. We have six or seven songs already recorded and several more in the
works. I’m very excited with the results so far. We’re pushing and pulling in a number of
new directions, challenging ourselves to top anything we’ve done before.

The next Ugly Things is due in the spring,
and it’ll include my feature on Craig Smith (a.k.a. Maitreya Kali) of the Penny Arkade,
a story I’ve been working on for over ten years, and one of the strangest to ever
appear in our pages. The issue will also include stories on the Moving Sidewalks, the Nazz,
Sands (“Listen to the Sky”), the Focal Point, and Ann Arbor, Michigan’s legendary ‘60s
era teen club the Fifth Dimension. Should be a good one.

Mike, I want to thank you
so much for taking the time to give our readers a glimpse inside the evolution
of Ugly Things, the magazine and the record label and Mike Stax, the musician
and journalist. May 2013 be a special year for you and yours and continued
success in all your endeavors.

Thanks for giving me the
opportunity to tell me story to your readers.

... a place where musicians can express themselves ...

Psychedelic Folk issue available

Dedicated to British psychedelic folk. New issue of printed version projected from the well-known, leading psych on-line site It’s Psychedelic Baby. After the previous issue covering exclusively the US psychedelic folk scene (IPB 002, 2016), this new issue covers the 1960s and 1970s British folk scene, with exclusive interviews of members from acts such as Fresh Maggots, Comus, Mellow Candle, Dr Strangely Strange, Spirogyra, C.O.B., Incredible String Band, Fairport Convention, Pererin, Courtyard Music Group, Magic Carpet, Sunforest, Oberon, etc. Also includes a few pages of record reviews. Cover by Justin Jackley.